At our school we used to call it P.E., which of course stands for Physical Education. This year we began to call it “Health and Wellness.” As the new teacher of this new program, it feels not only like a renaming, but a reclaiming. My school views my twice-a-week 45 minutes with students as a time to focus on their health and their wellness, not just their physical bodies. A part of wellness is time spent in nature.
One of the students’ favorite games cannot be played in a gym. In the video above, the students are playing “Sardines.” It’s backwards hide-and-go-seek. One student goes and hides, the rest try to find them. When they find them, they hide with them. The last person looking is the next person to go and hide. While this game is very physical, it also cannot be played in a gym. It needs to happen outside, preferably in the woods with a lot of hiding spots.
Playing is always good for our wellness. To understand this, think about yourself and your mindset while playing a game. Play allows us to tap into that presence of becoming lost in something. Playing can feel childlike only because during play, we tend to think like children. The only worry is about the game itself…not the errands, the bills, the to do lists. If you were playing this game, you’d be worried that you don’t find the person hiding in time! One’s thoughts typically don’t wander to mundanity because of the intensity of the game and of play itself.
But why not just stay inside? What’s wrong with the gym? Here’s what the kids said when I asked, “What if somebody said we should have stayed inside today?”
Outdoor Learning with Weslie 